Issue N° 122 - June 2014
Keep up to date on innovation matters worldwide with the INSME Association!
Dear INSMEnews Readers,
June - beginning of the Summer! The longest days of the year!
Together with this inspiring quote, I would like to brief you on the fact that INSME has just set the dates for its 2015 Annual Meeting, taking place in June in South Africa!
Looking forward to continuing our success story also in the African continent!
"Keep on dancing - it shakes your soul."
(unknown)
(*Courtesy of: http://www.reidcompton.com/blog/2010/06/13/baseball-african-dance-and-elks/)
…and now as usual enjoy your reading!
Ms. Christin Pfeiffer
INSME Secretary General
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INSME Secretary General, Ms. Pfeiffer, recently participated in a study visit to Brazil and intervened actively on the occasion of the National Meeting on Business Linkages.
The Brazilian economy widely relies on micro and small enterprises that account for the 99,1% of all businesses. Given this impressive percentage, SEBRAE (INSME Board Member) decided to adopt a special business linkages strategy in order to reduce the imbalance between small and large enterprises by including small businesses into the value chain of large enterprises. The implementation of this strategy will clearly contribute to the improvement of the local competitiveness and has already shown first tangible results throughout Brazil.
Learn more about the SEBRAE Business Linkages Programme here.
The INSME Association is delighted to announce its 11th INSME Annual Meeting on "Technology and Innovation for Inclusive Growth" taking place from the 3rd to the 5th of June 2015 in South Africa, co-organized by OSIBA Management (INSME Board Member).
After the Middle East (10th INSME Annual Meeting, UAE), Asia (9th INSME Annual Meeting, Turkey and 8th INSME Annual Meeting, South Korea), Europe (7th INSME Annual Meeting, Finland) and Latin America (6th INSME Annual Meeting, Brazil), the INSME Annual Meeting will be held for the first time in its history in the African continent. The event will be even more memorable thanks to the contemporary celebration of the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the democratic Government's seminal small business development policy and in conjunction with the first President's Conference on Small Business, dedicated to former President Mandela.
In the framework of this inspiring initiative, 2015's event will bring together decision makers, BSOs, financial actors, various representatives from industry and academy to seed new collaborative initiatives through the exchange of experiences, best practice approaches and project opportunities. The event is an excellent opportunity for participants to be provided with tools and insights on what they need to innovate and improve to bring their initiatives to the next level.
The dedicated website of the 11th INSME Annual Meeting will be available after the summer break, in the meantime please block your agenda!
The INSME Secretariat together with OSIBA Management is looking forward to welcoming you to South Africa.
In the meantime re-experience with us the last INSME Annual Meetings: enjoy the photo galleries at the following link!
The INSME Association is delighted to welcome one new member joining the network in June!
INSPIRED SOLUTIONS
INSPIRED SOLUTIONS is an Oman-based company dedicated to meet the needs of and provide technical assistance to SME lenders and SME developers such as commercial banks, SME funds, MFIs, and larger corporations with comparable Corporate Social Responsibility goals in Oman and MENA region.
In particular, INSPIRED SOLUTIONS aims at supporting:
Learn more about INSPIRED SOLUTIONS at the following link.
The INSME Association can count on the support of 97 members coming from 43 different countries.
The World Intellectual Property Organization - WIPO (INSME Member) has launched a new feature for the Global Brand Database which allows users to use an image as a search term instead of text and quickly find similar records without using the Vienna Classification.
With this one-of-a-kind image-search function, for example, a user can simply upload a proposed logo and quickly return records - browsing through more than 4 million images from 15 national and international collections - of other protected images that may bear a resemblance. The new feature adds another important service to the Global Brand Database's users, who often need to know if a logo, trademark or other similar image is separately registered for use.
Learn more about the initiative and watch the promotional video here.
More than 12,000 graduates from the National Entrepreneurship Institute Riyadah (INSME Member) joined the contest organized by the Tamakon Initiative under the supervision of the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM). The contest aimed at evaluating the best business proposals that have been inspired from the culture and business environment encountered in the US or during the graduates' educational experiences.
The highest ten contesters were invited to attend the graduation ceremony in Washington, which was recently held under the sponsorship of Al-Bilad bank of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where the top three best ideas have been awarded with $30,000 for the first prize, $25,000 for the first runner up and $20,000 for the third place.
The English press article is available here.
The 23rd World Economic Forum on East Asia was recently held from the 21st to the 23rd of May 2014 in Manila, Philippines. Being one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, ASEAN is about to launch the ASEAN Economic Community, a common market which will comprise 600 million people and have a combined GDP of nearly US$ 2 trillion. In the view of this important historic moment, the event aimed at serving as a platform to discuss the opportunities and challenges of the ASEAN Economic Community by focusing on three main pillars: "Achieving Equitable Progress"; "Advancing Models for Sustainable Growth" and "Realizing Regional Connectivity".
Learn more about the most important items discussed at the World Economic Forum on East Asia here.
The Startup Manifesto is subscribed by investors from all EU28 and Accession Countries and represents a statement to support the goal of increasing the early stage investment market from 7.5 billion to 15 billion Euro by 2017.
Investors have identified and focused on five main areas to unleash the power of the European early stage business community, those are:
The final aim of the investors supporting the manifesto is to call for the attention of Heads of State from all EU28 and Accession Countries, for the commitment of the Members of the European Parliament to draw up new perspectives for aspiring entrepreneurs and game changing startups.
Learn more about the manifesto here.
This article featured by MBA provides an overview about how to better reap the benefits from a crowdfunding campaign. Given a business plan containing detailed timelines and financial requirements and having chosen the right crowdfunding platform, the final step is to attract the right investors by developing your fundraising campaign. Some key point to bear in mind to launch a successful crowdfunding campaign:
Read the whole article at the following link.
Based on a recent study by Aurélien Acquier (ESCP Europe - Business School, Paris), Thibault Daudigeos (Grenoble Ecole de Management) and Bertrand Valiorgue (ESGManagement School), this article featured by the Network for Business Sustainability - NBS (INSME Member) gives insights on how to improve your Corporate Social Responsibility through collaboration. According to the study in fact, businesses in the same value chain can reap great benefit by using a common strategy for corporate social responsibility (CSR). Based on the theory, the researchers mentioned above describe four possible scenarios for CSR collaboration in the value chain, including barriers associated with each and advice for overcoming these barriers.
Read more at the following link.
The article by China SME Helpdesk outlines the problem of prior trademark registrations, also called "bad-faith registrations". The term refers to the process in which a Chinese company registers the trade mark of a foreign company in China with the intention of selling it back to the foreign company at an inflated price. These registrations represent a relevant problem for European companies as they limit the foreign company's freedom to operate by restricting its ability to enter the Chinese market or to source good from China.
Read the whole article here.
The Executive Agency for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (EASME) of the European Commission has launched a call for Expressions of Interest to set up a list of external experts for coaching activities in connection with the SME Instrument.
The coaching support will focus on developing organizational capabilities to provide beneficiaries with the necessary skills to ensure commercial growth base on the company's SME Instrument project. Successful beneficiaries of the call will benefit from coaching and mentoring support during the first two phases of the SME Instrument at the premises of the participating companies.
The list resulting from this call is valid for the duration of the multi-annual programme Horizon 2020. Interested parties may submit an application at any time prior to the last three months of validity of the list.
For more information and to submit your expression of interest please click here.
BRS Stars - a programme aiming at strengthening competitiveness and economic growth in the Baltic Sea Region - has recently launched a trans-national call for proposal "BSR Innovation Express".
The programme is funded by organizations and institutions coming from six different countries within the Baltic Sea Region: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The funding partners are the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation (DASTI), the Finnish Ministry of Employment and Economy and the Innovation Centre Iceland, among others.
The call is an instrument to support the internationalization of SMEs through cluster initiatives and to facilitate smart specialization, cross-border learning and competence development by fostering transnational linkages between SME networks, clusters and other specialized research and innovation nodes - for the benefit of their members.
BRS Innovation targets groups of SMEs and cluster initiatives from at least one of the countries where a funding partner is located.
The expected amount granted will be up to a maximum of €60.000 per approved project per country.
The deadline for submission is the 31st of October 2014.
More information available at this page.
More than 4,000 enterprises have successfully completed the IMP³rove (INSME Member) Assessments, forming at today the largest international innovation benchmarking database which is continuously growing.
SMEs that have completed the assessment now have the opportunity to participate in the IMP³rove contest and, if selected, win the IMP³rove Award.
Organizations that are for profit and legally established prior to the 1st of July 2009 are eligible to participate in the contest by submitting their IMP³rove Benchmarking Report. The winning companies will be awarded with the IMP³rove Award Certificate and with a voucher for an innovation coaching session in innovation management facilitated by a senior expert from the IMP³rove - European Innovation Management Academy.
The deadline for submission is the 15th of August 2014.
Learn more at this page.
EPO Special Prize is an initiative promoted in the framework of the 11th European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC), an international innovation competition supported by the European Global Navigation Satellite System Agency.
The EPO Special Prize will recognize the best patented GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) related innovation based on its high economic potential, strong technological impact, and outstanding benefits for today's society.
The winner and two runners-up will receive an economic study (value: approximately € 5,000) on the market potential of their patent in the corresponding field of technology.
The deadline for submission is the 30th of June 2014.
More information is available at this page.
The Foundation for Entrepreneurial Participation (TFEP) aims at developing and implementing a support infrastructure in the Caribbean region to assist entrepreneurs to develop, innovate and partner with enterprises in the European Union.
To achieve this goal, TFEP has recently launched the Euro-Caribbean Enterprise Partnership Service (ECEPS), a platform where enterprises can register their requests and offers of partnership for free with the aim to find a suitable organization to collaborate with.
To facilitate users' requests in finding the right support organization, it is also possible to go through a list organized by different sectors such as financial services, energy & telecommunication and many others.
Find out more here.
APEC - Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation - recently published a report on "Integrating SMEs into Global Value Chains (GVCs): Policy Principles and Best Practices".
The APEC SME Working Group selected five key sectors in which SMEs have interest in participating in GVCs: the agriculture global value chain, the food processing global value chain, the automobile global value chain, the electronics global value chain and the handicraft global value chain.
Through a SWOT Analysis for SMEs in the APEC Region, the report shows that for SMEs in developed and newly-industrialized economies, the agriculture and electronics sectors offer higher potential to participate in GVCs; while for SMEs in developing economies, the electronics and handicraft sectors offer the best prospects. The report also suggests policies and best practices to facilitate and increase the chance for SMEs to play an important role in GVCs.
Read the whole report here.
The United Nations University recently released a report in collaboration with the Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT) on the "Impact of Innovation Support Programmes on SME Innovation in Traditional Manufacturing Industries: an Evaluation for seven EU Regions".
The report analyses the impact of innovation support programmes on SME innovation in traditional manufacturing industries in seven EU regions: United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France and Netherlands.
According to the results of the analysis of 400 programmes in the above mentioned countries, the report states that the innovation policies supporting the private sector cannot be identified as a good practice and suggests a direction for policy reform to overcome government failure and to increase the potential of the innovation support programmes.
Find out more here.
The Academy of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) has launched a learning portal with the aim to share knowledge and activities gathering IP professionals from EU national and regional IP offices.
The Academy has developed a training catalogue for the EU national intellectual property offices with more than 20 modules, from training in general IP topics to specific courses covering all aspects of trade mark and design registration by collaborating with other international institutions like the European Patent Academy and the World Intellectual Property Organization Academy.
OHIM Academy, targeting both OHIM staff and partners from the EU28 IP offices, currently focuses on different topics like examination, opposition, international registration and others.
Read more here.
The SME Finance Forum is a platform gathering key stakeholders, including financial institutions, development agencies, policy makers and researchers with the aim to offer data, research and best practices in SMEs access to finance.
The SME Finance Forum releases a monthly newsletter in order to provide policy makers and financial institutions with tools to share knowledge, encourage innovation and promote scaling-up of successful SME finance models. Furthermore the newsletter offers insights and updates on relevant events and initiatives relating to finance, innovation and business.
Subscribe to the newsletter here.
The 11th WTA Daejeon Hi-Tech Fair
Under the theme "Regional Strategic Industry as a Base of Creative Economy" the fair will be a perfect occasion to network with business representatives, experts in STP, researchers and scholars to find new business opportunities in the field of high tech.
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8th of July 2014
Raising awareness on the European and international patent system
Organized by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development (INSME Member) in cooperation with the EPO
Rome, Italy
15th of July 2014
IP Information Day: Presentation of OHIM's Activities and Services
Organized by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development (INSME Member) in cooperation with OHIM
Rome, Italy
17th - 19th of July 2014
International Seminar/Workshop on "Halal Food Standardization, Commercialization, Application of Food Encapsulation Technology and Food Nano Processing"
Organized by IORA RCSTT (INSME Member)
Tehran, I. R. Iran
23rd - 24th of July 2014
2nd West Africa Microfinance Conference - WAMIC 2014
Organized by the African Centre for Peace Building
Accra, Ghana
4th - 8th of August 2014
6th Pan-African Competitiveness Forum
Organized by the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH)
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
3rd - 5th of September 2014
International Educational Technology Conference
Organized by TOJET - The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology
Chicago, USA
7th - 9th of September 2014
IPO 42nd Annual Meeting
Organized by Intellectual Property Owners Association - IPO
Vancouver, Canada
29th of September - 1st of October 2014
International Good Practice Event 2014
Organized by University Industry Innovation Network (UIIN) and Technical University Madrid (UPM)
Madrid, Spain
29th of September - 1st of October 2014
LET'S 2014:Leading And Enabling Technologies for Societal Challenges
Organized by the European Commission, the National Research Council of Italy, APRE and ASTER
Bologna, Italy
2nd - 3rd of October 2014
Global Forum on the Knowledge Economy
Organized by the OECD (INSME Moral Sponsor)
Tokyo, Japan
5th - 8th of October 2014
ISPIM Americas Innovation Forum
Organized by ISPIM (INSME Member)
Montreal, Canada
13th - 16th of October 2014
World Investment Forum 2014
Organized by UNCTAD (INSME Member)
Geneva, Switzerland
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In the framework of its 9th General Assembly and of the Daejeon Global Innovation Forum, the 
